Abstract
BACKGROUND: The current project sought to evaluate the impact that white matter hyperintensities (WMH) have on executive function in cognitively normal Mexican Americans, an underserved population with onset and more rapid progression of dementia. METHODS: Data from 515 participants (360 female) enrolled in the Health and Aging Brain Study: Health Disparities project were analyzed. Participants underwent clinical evaluation, cognitive testing, and a brain MRI. Linear regression was used to predict the effect of total WMH volume on cognitive test scores. Age, sex, and education were entered as covariates. RESULTS: Regression analysis showed that WMH volume significantly predicted executive function. WMH also predicted global cognition and attention scores, although not significantly after adjusting for age. CONCLUSION: In this sample of cognitively normal Mexican Americans, we found that WMH volume was associated with lower scores in a measure of executive function, after accounting for age, sex, and education.